COMMUNICATING
GEND ER
WSCF
Løgumkloster 2011
K. Renato Lings
The Bible and Homosexuality:
Did the Translators Get It Wrong? (2011)
Workshop (Thursday)
THE BIBLE, SEXUALITY,
AND LANGUAGE
What Kind of Mistakes Do Bible
Translators Make?
or
Why Some Bible Readers Condemn
Lesbian and Gay Relationships.
Gender Studies
Gender Studies
Gender Trouble
Gender, Sex, and Sexuality
Distinctions
PART ONE
Biological Sex, Sexuality, and Gender
PART TWO
Gender and the Image of God
Biological Sex
Either of two categories,
FEMALE or MALE,
into which organisms are
divided on the basis of their
REPRODUCTIVE ROLE.
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Characteristics of Sex
SEX
Biology:
Reproduction
Combining
Two Categories
Female and Male
Communicating Sex
Female
Male
Unisex
Sexual
Ambiguity
Intersex Individuals
(Hermaphrodites)
Not XX and not XY:
One in
1,666 births
Klinefelter (XXY):
One in
1,000 births
Girl, Boy, or Hermaphrodite?
Sexuality
A.
The condition of having a sexual nature and
experiencing sexual desires
B.
A person’s sexual orientation, as a heterosexual
or a homosexual, or sexual preferences
C.
Sexual activity.
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Sexuality
Attraction
& Desire
Orientation
Relational
Sexuality in History
Karl Maria Benkert
(K. M. Kertbeny)
1869
Homo-sexuality
Hetero-sexuality
Bi-sexuality
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Communicating Sexuality
Heterosexuality
Opposite-sex Attraction
Same-sex Attraction
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Attraction to Both Sexes
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Bisexuality
Who Will They Love?
Gender
Grammatical term in
language contexts
for classifying
NOUNS
feminine
masculine
neuter
The expression of
femaleness and
maleness in given
CULTURAL
and
SOCIAL
settings
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Age 2½ (1884)
Early Gendering Today
Practical Distinctions
Gender Expectations
Dress Code
Cross-dressing F/M
Cross-dressing M/F
Playing with Gender
Transgender
M/F
F/M
LGBT
Lesbian
Gay
Bisexual
Transgendered
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Queer (Traditional)
1. Odd, strange, eccentric
2. Homosexual (derogatory)
Queer (Contemporary)
An umbrella term for people who:
- do not identify as heterosexual
- do not fit into heteronormativity
- are not gender-binary
- reject ‘mainstream’ LGBT lifestyles.
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Queer
Summary
BIOLOGICAL SEX
Female, Male, Intersex
SEXUALITY
Heterosexual, Homosexual, Bisexual
GENDER
Social & Cultural Norms, Dress Codes,
LGBT & Queer.
END OF PART ONE
PART TWO
GEND ER
and the Image of
G
D
© K. Renato Lings 2011
In the Beginning
Genesis 1:26–27
And God(s) said
”We will make a groundling
In our image, after our likeness...”
And God(s) created the groundling
In his image
Created it in the image of God(s)
Male and female he created them.
© K. Renato Lings 2011
At the Start
The literal translation of Genesis
1:26–27 just presented has been
inspired by the work of
Mary Phil Korsak, At the Start,
Doubleday, New York, 1993.
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Divine Duality/Plurality
In antiquity, deities with two or
three faces or sides were not
unusual.
Two Divine Faces: Janus
Three Divine Faces: Hecate
Creating Animals
Conjoined Twins
Some human beings are born dual.
He/She/They
Male AND Female
Genesis 2
And YHWH God(s) said
It is not good for the groundling
to be alone
And YHWH God(s) made a swoon
fall upon the groundling
It slept
He took one of its sides... and YHWH
God(s) built the side... into a woman.
Rib or Side?
• According to Christian tradition, woman
was made from a rib taken from man.
• According to the Hebrew text, woman
represented one of the groundling’s sides.
Creation Process
1. Dual nature of the divine
We/He
2. Dual nature of the first human being
Male and female in one body:
It/They
3. Subsequent separation of female
side from male side.
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Creation Story
Gender ambivalence acknowledged
by Jewish tradition
Source text:
Genesis in the original Hebrew.
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Creation Story
Christian reinterpretation:
Humanity was created male
Source texts:
Greek Septuagint (ca. 200 BCE)
Latin Vulgate (ca. 400 CE)
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Septuagint & Vulgate
Christian View of ’Adam’
Woman Created from Adam’s Rib
Male Focus of Christianity





Male Creator
Male human being
Woman created from man’s rib
Woman is man’s helpmate
or servant
Man is King
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Summary
GENESIS
Original Hebrew creation story:
- A single human being, male and female
- Subsequent division into male and female
CHRISTIAN TRADITION
Interpretation of Greek creation story:
- A human male
- Woman created from man’s rib
© K. Renato Lings 2011
The Forbidden Fruit
Jewish Interpretation of Hebrew Text






Did they fall or were they pushed?
A story of birth, childhood, adolescence
Exploring the world, testing boundaries
Facing the consequences
Reaching adulthood
Life on earth: work and procreation.
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Christian Interpretation of Greek Text






The first couple was tempted and fell
They were disobedient
Woman is to blame
Human nature is sinful
Original sin
Life on earth is cursed.
.© K. Renato Lings 2011
Early Christian Misogyny

Paul, 1 Cor 11:9 (first century CE)
Woman was created for the sake of man



John Chrysostom
Clement of Alexandria
Augustine of Hippo
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Misogyny of Thomas Aquinas
13th Century
Perfection of Man
IN ANTIQUITY
A man is a fully developed human being,
rational, able to control himself
Imperfection of Woman
IN ANTIQUITY
Woman is:
- imperfect, partly developed
- sensual, all body, no spirit
- irrational, unable to
control herself.
Weakness of Woman





Her sensuality is dangerous to man
Eve caused Adam to fall
She brought a curse upon humankind
Woman needs a man to be in charge
She is unfit for leadership.
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Is Being a Woman a Christian Thing?
Emilio García
Estébanez,
¿Es cristiano
ser mujer?
Siglo XXI Editores,
Madrid, 1992.
Christian Asceticism






Spirit superior to body
Spirit represents maleness
Body represents the feminine
Body must be disciplined
Avoidance of procreation
Celibacy.
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Christian Ascetic
Origen 185–254
Christian Erotophobia
Sexual temptations: from the devil
Same-sex Erotophobia
MIDDLE AGES
 Same-sex relationships = blasphemy
 ’Sin against nature’, ’unmentionable sin’
 ’Sodomy’ invented by Peter Damian
(Book of Gomorrah, eleventh century)
 Protestant Reformation accepted
’Sodomy’ uncritically (e.g. Martin Luther)
Sodomy
St Peter Damian
(11th century)
Martin Luther
(16th century)
Misogyny and Anti-homoeroticism
 In antiquity androcentric, misogynous
attitudes were commonplace
 Since the early church, misogyny has
flourished in the Christian tradition
 Misogyny has gone hand in hand
with condemnation of homoerotic
relationships.
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Conclusion 1
Christian tradition has failed
to address gender issues
in any meaningful way.
© K. Renato Lings 2011
Conclusion 2
For Christianity, major gender issues
remain bereft of honest acknowledgement, analysis, and resolution:
Misogyny
Same-sex erotophobia
Trans-phobia
Intersex discomfort
Conclusion 3
 God is diverse and so is creation
 Female, male, and intersex were
created equal
 For Christianity to repent and to
appreciate gender diversity, an
excellent place to start is Hebrew
Genesis 1 & 2.
© K. Renato Lings 2011